Kenya’s Rally Star driver Hamza Anwar exited the iconic WRC Safari Rally Kenya following a water-splash incident in Saturday’s early morning speed tests.
Rally Stars’ chief mechanic Adil Khan confirmed that Hamza will not rejoin the rally in Sunday’s last leg due to the lack of a spare engine to fix the damage.
Hamza damaged his Ford Fiesta Rally3 at a river crossing, where his M-Sport Poland-prepared marque sucked in excessive water and developed a hole in the engine.
“Hamza is definitely out of the Safari because we do not have a spare engine to replace the damaged one. McRae (KImathi) will definitely continue on Sunday after we have sorted out a steering issue,” Adil said.
Like Hamza, Kimathi also failed to complete the three-stage morning loop due to steering problems but will rejoin tomorrow’s run on Super Rally.
“The first stage at Soysambu was good for us. We were taking it cautiously as we didn’t want to break a lot of things in the car. So, that’s how it went, but unfortunately, we had issues on the second stage at Elementeita, here our steering rack broke. Our team is trying to ensure it doesn’t happen again tomorrow. It’s a small issue and I am sure that it will be fixed well in time,” McRae said.
Jeremiah Wahome was the only Rally Star driver who restarted the second loop for the three-car Safaricom/KQ-sponsored team.
Wahome said: “The first loop was quite okay for me. We knew today’s stages will be quite tough and our plan was just to gauge it as we go. Unfortunately for the other guys, we saw a lot of rally cars on the side. It was a good loop, sleeping Warrior wasn’t too bad, it was muddy though due to overnight rains.”
Water splash scares
Toyota’s Elfyn Evans also suffered a scare through a water splash, where his GR Yaris Rally1 briefly cut out on the morning’s first stage, costing him a third place to Hyundai’s Lappi.
Elfyn approached the deep water-crossing at a sensible speed but on the other side, the car stuttered to a halt with steam pouring from the engine. However, it proved minor enough that he was able to get going soon after – but not after losing over 40 seconds.
Elfyn regained the third position after Lappi retired on the repeat run of the Soysambu test.
Saturday, the longest leg of the rally, has also been touted as the most difficult—and the opening Soysambu test certainly proved a challenge for the drivers.
After 11 stages, longtime leader Ogier still holds a +28.5seconds advantage over Kalle Rovanpera.
